In a wireless network, access points and client devices communicate with each other by transmitting and receiving data via wireless signals. Changes in network conditions such as noise, signal strength, relative positions of the access points and client devices, the number of client devices that contend for a shared channel, available access points, etc., can affect the data transmission. For example, a given client communicating at a particular transmission rate can experience data loss when additional clients gain access to the network via a common access point. In another example, a client may experience data loss due to poor link quality.
Often, the only solution used to overcome data loss is to decrease the transmission rate for the client or clients, irrespective of the cause of the data loss. However, this may result in exacerbating the problems in data transmission in some cases. Overall, the existing techniques often produce less than acceptable results and unfavorable user experiences in dynamic real-world contexts.
Various exemplary techniques disclosed herein enable rate adaptation for wireless networks to minimize data loss by selecting appropriate rate adaptation techniques in response to the cause of the data loss.